Bowl Brings Back Memories Of Rein

SKIP MILLER

Ten years ago this week, one of the eeriest incidents in college football began in Orlando, Fla.

It was Tangerine Bowl - that was the forerunner of the present Citrus Bowl - week in the city that greeted travelers with this billboard: "Your last chance to see Orlando as it is today."

The bowl opponents were Louisiana State of the Southeastern Conference and Wake Forest of the Atlantic Coast Conference. LSU coach Charlie McClendon had already announced he would retire after the game, ending his 18-year reign. Bo Rein of North Carolina State had been named as successor.

Wake Forest was coached by John Mackovic, who guided the Deacons to an 8-3 record, the school's best in more than 30 years.

Ironically, Wake was not the ACC champion. N.C. State won the title with a 5-1 conference record - the Deacons finished fourth. But Wake had the better overall record and received the Tangerine bid. The Wolfpack, who finished 7-4, voted not to accept a bowl invitation.

In the days leading up to the game, Mackovic thought he had the weapons and an advantage for this Tiger hunt. He had quarterback Jay Venuto, the ACC player of the year who had led the league with more than 2,400 yards total offense. He had a receiver named Wayne Baumgardner and a pro-caliber running back named James McDougald.

Most of all, though, he had an LSU team that had demoralized itself with a 6-5 record. Its Sugar Bowl aspirations had soured into the Tangerine Bowl, a smaller bowl production that didn't even have a national television contract.

Alas, Mackovic underestimated McClendon, the coach they called "Cholly Mac." McClendon started his pre-game peptalk with "I'm the richest man in the world with all my friends, all my players and all my coaches. There's only one thing I don't have as I prepare to move on ..."

When he finished, there was not a dry eye in the locker room. Or a desire not aflame.

The Tigers buried the Deacons, 34-10. Quarterback David Woodley completed 11 of 19 passes for 199 yards and a touchdown. He ran for 68 yards and two more touchdowns.

Woodley would go on to a National Football League career. Washington fans will remember him as the Miami quarterback in Super Bowl XVII, a 27-17 Redskin victory.

Centering the ball for Woodley was a hulking, articulate fellow named John Ed Bradley. After college, Bradley traded his pads for a pen. He was a sports reporter for the Washington Post before turning to freelance and novels.

McClendon left LSU and spent the next few years working on various bowl committees. He settled in Orlando and is currently executive director of the American Football Coaches Association.

Mackovic lasted one more year at Wake Forest. His Deacons were a disappointing 5-6 in 1980. He moved on to coach quarterbacks for the Dallas Cowboys, then to the Kansas City Chiefs, then into private business, and two years ago settled in at Illinois. He'll return to Orlando this week, getting the Illini ready to meet Virginia in the New Year's Day Citrus Bowl.

And Bo Rein headed for LSU. He was 34 years old at the time. He had taken over at State in 1976, when Lou Holtz left to tackle the New York Jets and the NFL.

Rein was an avid outdoorsman who was off hunting or fishing when it wasn't football season. He had a dry sense of humor and an honesty that was borderline blunt.

He said he took the job at LSU because he wanted to "knock heads with the best teams in the country." Few doubted he would do that successfully.

Rein had one team meeting at LSU. He told the players football was just a game. But, if they chose to play the game they had no reason not to try their best.

Then he went out on the recruiting trail. It was January and he was getting to a late start. The other SEC coaches had already been at it for months.

The players would never see Rein again. After one recruiting visit near Memphis, Rein boarded a Cessna 441 piloted by Lewis Benscotter. Ahead of them was a few hours flying time back to Baton Rouge.

They never made it. The plane suddenly swerved in the opposite direction. Those tracking the plane were unable to establish radio contact as it flew a northeast, over Tennessee and Virginia, some 1,000 miles off-course.

The Air Force was tracking the plane when it spiraled into the Atlantic, 100 miles east of Cape Charles.